deflect it onto the bar, so Birmingham scraped through to the fifth round. The quarter-final pitted Birmingham against local rivals Aston Villa, again at home. West Midlands Police had been sufficiently concerned about the potential for trouble and possible adverse effects on England's World Cup bid that they made an unsuccessful request for a change of date and had four times the usual number of officers on duty. Larsson opened the scoring with a penalty after Richard Dunne fouled Bowyer, then Gabriel Agbonlahor equalised for Villa on the break after Žigić had an apparently valid goal disallowed. Jerome shot wide when one-on-one with goalkeeper Brad Friedel, and Foster saved well from Ashley Young after parrying a shot from Agbonlahor, but neither side could make the breakthrough until, on 86 minutes, Žigić scrambled home a shot deflected off Luke Young. At the end of the match, large numbers of Birmingham fans invaded the pitch and were separated from the visiting support by riot police. Missiles, including seats and a flare, believed by police to have originated in the visitors' section, were thrown back and forth, and the violence continued outside the ground. Birmingham were drawn against West Ham United in the two-legged semi-final. In the first leg, at Upton Park, West Ham had much the best of the first half, and took a deserved lead when Mark Noble scored from a tight angle with Foster's view at the near post obscured by Dann. Dann sustained an injury just before half-time which was to keep him out for the rest of the season. Early in the second half, Birmingham equalised through Ridgewell's header from a corner, then took a man advantage when Victor Obinna was sent off for kicking Larsson in the groin. Even after a penalty was denied when Ferguson was knocked flying by Matthew Upson, it looked as Birmingham would go on to win, but goalkeeper Foster blundered when he allowed a weak shot from Carlton Cole to go through him. West Ham increased their lead to 3–1 on aggregate in the first half of the second leg when Cole collected a throw-in and shot past Foster from . The half-time introduction of Žigić put pressure on West Ham's defence. A penalty appeal against Wayne Bridge for handball was rejected, but from the resultant corner, Bowyer tied the scores on the night, and prolonged pressure led to Johnson's 79th-minute headed